Mortgage borrowers race to take in lodgers as interest rates rise

Stretched mortgage borrowers are racing to take in lodgers in an attempt to help cover their bills.

The number of adverts for lodgers on listings website SpareRoom was nearly a fifth higher in the three months to June than a year earlier, the business said.

Matt Hutchinson, communications director at the company, said that much like after the financial crisis, squeezed homeowners were starting to look at empty bedrooms as a source of income.

Mr Hutchinson said: “We saw a real sort of drop in people taking lodgers over Covid. But the numbers have started picking up again now.

“With people struggling and interest rates rising it’s something we think is going to really take off throughout the course of this year.”

It comes after the average mortgage rate of a two-year fixed deal reached 6.54pc on Friday, and borrowing costs for five-year products rose to 6.04pc.

This is more than double where rates were two years ago.

Traditionally, live-in landlords were typically empty nesters with large properties but less income, Mr Hutchinson said. However, this is changing.

He said: “Now interest rates are rising fast, people who might have bought a two-bed flat a couple of years ago are remortgaging and their costs are going up. So we’re seeing younger people as well.

“There’s this big range of people taking in lodgers now. It could be a 30-something young professional taking in a lodger and it feels more like two flatmates sharing.”

A person taking out a £225,000 mortgage in 2021 would have been hit with an increase in their monthly repayments of just over £500 if remortgaging today.

The Bank of England has raised interest rates 13 consecutive times from 0.1pc in December 2021 to 5pc in June.

Markets are betting that the base rate will go as high as 6.25pc by early next year. Meanwhile, rents across the UK rose at the fastest pace in at least seven years in May.

Empty bedrooms may help take the brunt of such supply pressures, Mr Hutchinson said.

He added: “The biggest spare capacity in the housing market at the moment is spare bedrooms in people’s houses. The underoccupancy rates in the homeowners’ sector are far bigger than it is in the private rented sector.”

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